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Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Joy:: How to Achieve Daily Joy

Good morning my sweet creative friends:::: I hope your day is as amazing as you are!!

"Don't expect anything...Then life will be Pure JOY" by K Petruzzil

Mixed Medium: Watercolors, Acrylics, Collage

I love hearing from you:: some of you have mentioned you don't feel like an "artist". You don't "do" art, you don't "do" music:: you are ART....you are music.... Art is a creative way of living...it is making, creating, thinking creatively, daily. If you do anything with a creative heart, then I feel you are ART...an artist.
Now that we have that out of the way (wink wink):::
I want to talk about JOY. What is joy? It is the ability to be joyful regardless of the moment or circumstance. Tall order:: if we look at it in the regular realm of every day life: try to be happy no matter what kind of day I'm having, or what's been thrown at me? No, not happy::: but joyful.
I think I heard it best from a great spiritual teacher who said, "Don't have any expectations, and your life will be pure Joy". What does that mean? To me, it means stop asking, stop expecting:: many times we expect others to be kind, to appreciate it, to compliment us, to thank us. to show us appreciation, courtesy, to aid, to be basically a good person. Am I saying lower your moral standards? Absolutely not. Just don't expect anything at all. Tough but it's something I'm trying every day and it's a conscious effort. I have to say, I'm definitely more joyful.
You see expectations bring about disappointment, frustration, and disenchantment. If you depend on anyone else for your joy, then you will be disappointment, frustrated and disenchanted many many times.
Think of a bride:: she has so much expectations of a perfect fairy tale love and life, a beautiful "perfect" wedding day, and so on. Can she help but to be disappointed in the days and years to come? Only if she buys in to the "knight in shining armor". I believe there is NO knight in shining armor outside of yourself and God. To put your trust in anyone else is foolish:: you will be saddened, disappointed, and depressed if you EXPECT or demand.
Let us try to not expect, ask, or demand. Let us try to have no expectations:: if beautiful wonderful things happen, wonderful! If rotten crummy things happen, then it is outside of us. We can *try* to be joyful regardless of circumstance. We are but souls having a body experience in a human existence on an Earthly plane.
Our soul never dies:: our body may die, but our soul is ever lasting.